Sunday, August 02, 2009

Am I still middle aged?


Sometimes when we're not paying attention, we slip through one age group to another and I'm really trying to be REAL about where I am. LOL! The last time I was truly certain about what group I belonged in was when I was a teenager! That is clearly defined, but after that we're usually described by our decade--20's, 30's, 40's--then it starts getting sticky!

I guess we'll have to blame it on AARP. They are to blame for all the angst that comes sometime during your 49th year. Afterall, it's a magazine for RETIRED people for cripes sake! How many of you will retire (or have retired) at age 50? Here's my guess--0. Even the people who can AFFORD to retire at that age, don't. That's not what babyboomers do. So many that I know just create an entirely new career. Even I STARTED my business, Minnie Pauz Enterprises, at age 49 so I'm certainly not retired.

Which brings me back to my question. I accepted the fact that I was middle aged at 50because it's the "middle" of almost everything...the football field, the speedometer and the number 100. But, now that I'm 11 years past that mid-mark, I'm getting concerned. Am I falling into the OMG, SENIOR category???? To most in their 20's, 30's and 40's, yes I'm most definitely a senior citizen. To those in their 50's, I think they would be a little more kind considering they're starting to see the short time span between 50 and 60. I'm sure they would consider me still in the middle aged group, right?

Considering the fact that I now am only 9 years (a blink of my bespeckled eyes) away from OMG, 70, I am going to say that I would say that middle age covers from 45 through 65. After all, we DO want to take advantage of all the Senior Citizen Discounts, right? (You know, dicount wheelchairs, life insurance, LOL).

So I guess that gives me another 4 years to call myself middle aged instead of a senior! Whew!!

4 comments:

  1. Even when I was about 16 and not supposed anyone over 30--something I thought was asinine anyway--I didn't think old age started until 70. Why? Longevity in the women in my family. Both grandmas lived to about 95, had a great aunt on BOTH sides who lived to be 101. I figured 20-45, 46-70, and 70 to whenever. I didn't really see my folks as getting old until their seventieth birthdays. THEN I really saw it and THEY really felt it. They died in early old age and I felt they were cheated. Arbitrary though it is, 70's that mark to me, so you have OODLES of time!

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  2. Oh THANK you, Wise Woman of the Web!! LOL Of course, in 9 years, I'll be pushing that "senior thing" up to about 80! :) Women in my family also have the longevity thing. It's just amazing how I never imagined myself at 60 and now I'm looking at 70 (and yes, even 80). Here's to US at ANY age!

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  3. I tell myself, and any others who worry about their age, that each birthday I am merely a day older than the day before. Works for me. :-)

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  4. PS. Dee, please ask that question in three years, when I hit sixty. By then I'll have another answer for us!

    wise woman of the web...yeah. That would be me!

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